The body of a 35-year-old Muslim cleric was found on railway tracks in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. While police suggest he fell from a train, family members allege he was thrown off, prompting an investigation.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has accused the BJP government of mistreating his party workers in Ghazipur, following allegations of sexual assault and murder of a 17-year-old girl. Yadav also criticised the police investigation and announced financial assistance to the victim's family.
'Every issue that Muslims are facing today affects Muslim women. But how come women's issues don't affect the community?' 'How does the community benefit by the practice of halala or polygamy?'
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
'The jail staff told me Kasab was served only jail food and not biryani.' 'They told me that Kasab was beaten regularly after court proceedings.' 'And they filled Kasab's bottle with urine so that whenever he felt thirsty he used to drink urine.'
'I suspect that Bangladesh being given permission stuck in India's official craw, and this story was an attempt to balance the scales by giving the impression that a similar waiver had been given to India as well.'
About nine months ago, the man, whose real name she later discovered was Bakhtawar, took her to Mandanpur Shumali village under the Baheri police station area in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly.
'If at all human beings require a religion, the future religion will be Hinduism.'
'Why would a highly qualified doctor with a promising future choose to wage war against his own country?'
The biryani, happily, was the very definition of simple. light-textured, with a subtle tomato-ey twang, it reminded me a lot of a North Indian pulao. The flavour whack came from the sweet-sour Khatta Baingan simmered in a gravy of tamarind, jaggery, fried mustard seeds, and spices, served with it.
'When maximum voter participation occurs, they do not vote to re-elect the incumbent government. They vote to change it.' 'How can anyone credibly suggest that crores of young voters -- particularly the unemployed youth -- would vote to re-elect an existing government that has demonstrably failed them?'
'India has experienced any number of doctors, engineers, and individuals from professional backgrounds being implicated in terrorism. This is not a novel development.' 'These are mobilisations of opportunity. One does not exclusively associate with one's own kind. A comprehensive conspiracy requires diverse skill sets.' 'One needs individuals with local community contacts, those possessing physical capabilities, technical expertise -- an entire spectrum of capacities.'
Right-wing organizations, including Bajrang Dal and All India Karni Sena, held a 'shuddhikaran' (purification) ceremony and chanted Hanuman chalisa at a long-abandoned Shiva temple in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. The temple, located in a Muslim-majority locality, was "reopened" by members of these groups. The ceremony took place on Wednesday night amid tight security measures. Local residents, including a former Aligarh Mayor, have voiced concerns over the state of the temple and called for its restoration.
'For all you know, in the next five years there could be a path-breaking cancer treatment and I may be absolutely fine. Or maybe I won't be. I have to live with both scenarios.'
A four-member team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conducted a survey of the recently-discovered Shri Kartik Mahadev temple, five pilgrimage sites, and 19 wells in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India. The survey followed the discovery of three damaged idols inside a well of the Bhasma Shankar temple, which was reopened after being shut for 46 years. The Shri Kartik Mahadev temple, also known as the Bhasma Shankar temple, was reopened on December 13 after authorities found the covered structure during an anti-encroachment drive. The temple houses an idol of Lord Hanuman and a Shivling and had remained locked since 1978. The district administration has requested carbon dating of the temple, including the well, from the ASI. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has restrained courts across India from entertaining new lawsuits or passing any orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs, until further notice. This action halts proceedings in approximately 18 lawsuits filed by Hindu parties seeking surveys to determine the original religious character of 10 mosques, including the Gyanvapi at Varanasi, the Shahi Idgah Masjid at Mathura, and the Shahi Jama Masjid at Sambhal, where four individuals died in clashes. The Supreme Court will examine the legality, scope, and boundaries of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits the conversion of places of worship and ensures the preservation of their religious character as it existed on August 15, 1947.
'When I undertook a study of temple desecration in precolonial India, it was not enough simply to document what temples were desecrated, by whom, when, and where.' 'It was also important to explore the total historical context of such incidents, with a view to discovering patterns, which in turn could reveal the reasons why they occurred.'
The Ahmedabad Civil Hospital performed the last rites for body parts of 19 victims of the June 12 Air India plane crash. The body parts were discovered after the initial remains were handed over to families.
'With Chhaava, we had to look from a different lens.' 'We had to write it in such a way that apart from the sacrifice, the fight and the war, there's a lot more to understand about the history of the Marathas.'
'The quality of justice is directly linked to the quality of judges -- if that suffers, justice delivery suffers.'
'Episodes of targeted attacks on Muslims established that for a section of people and, sadly, even officials of the State, the election results conveyed no lessons.' 'Opposition parties must not be hesitant in speaking out whenever the mob with tacit State support targets Muslims,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
'If you look around the world at people of colour, religion, caste, sexuality or any of the marginalised communities, we are always talking in numbers.' 'We are always assigning them a statistic.' 'That is an easy way to assuage your urban guilt. Because you hide your apathy with hollow sympathy.' 'We are, in a way, making them invisible.'
'These characters have huge spirits and they are fighting something that is much bigger than them.' 'The attempt was to portray how they navigate their lives, to retain that spirit and not let it die.'
'The situation in Nuh could have easily returned to normalcy if the trader class wished so, but they didn't.'
'The liberalisation of the Indian economy has triggered a growing belief in education, because they believe they can be a part of the economic bandwagon and benefit from it.'
Several Muslim families in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, have adopted Hindu surnames such as Dubey, Pandey, and Tiwari, claiming their ancestors were Brahmins. This follows a campaign by the Vishal Bharat Sansthan, which aims to "reconnect people with their roots" and reduce religious conflict. The campaign has sparked controversy, with some accusing families of converting their religion. The local police are investigating the situation and have deployed extra personnel in the area as a preventive measure.
'Not only are Muslim homes and shops being bulldozed, but the cops are filing random FIRs even against people who died two-three years ago, against those who have moved to neighbouring states since almost two years to work there.'
Bill Aitken came to India nearly 60 years ago. He never returned. An Indian citizen since 1972, he tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how India changed his life forever.
We should fill our heart with things that we will be proud of when anyone opens our hearts -- fill it with love rather than hate, fill it with confidence rather than fear, with care rather than apathy, with warmth rather than indifference, suggests Cardiac Surgeon Dr Sanjeeth Peter.
The court has also directed all concerned parties to file objections to the report submitted by the commission that surveyed the mosque premises.
Bollywood doesn't need fire-breathing dragons when it has Bhai.
Hindu festivals are now becoming occasions when anti-Muslim hatred is expressed freely through slogans and songs that are full of abuse against Muslims or calls to either kill them or humiliate them, observes Apoorvanand.
Gauri wasn't very happy about living the Bombay life. With no friends in the city, she wanted her husband's films to flop so they could go back home, to Delhi.
His cinema of compassion inspired me, gave me tools to develop empathy for others. But it also made me understand that serious, socially committed cinema with deeply engaging narratives and great performances is an art form to admire, appreciate and explore. Aseem Chhabra remembers Shyam Benegal, who passed into the ages on Monday evening.
Religion and economic barriers continue to define love in modern India, discovers Preshth Bhardwaj.
'People don't know about the immense pressures that come with this position -- every decision a judge takes affects real people and their lives.' 'This is not a job that one can take lightly.' A
Tral, the former hotbed of terrorism, rocks to the music of democracy.
One of the high points of the proceedings was when Indrani Mukerjea's lawyer smartly utilised Dr Zeba Khan's expert status to pose her A Most Curious Question. He asked her if a skull can grow new teeth, even after the person, who it belonged to, had died, three years before. We can be sure that the discrepancy between the number of teeth discovered in the skull unearthed in 2012 and the skull shown in court in September 2019 will come up soon in Courtroom No 51. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora Murder Trial.
'I somehow felt that Muzaffar Ali was in Aligarh to feel the pulse of the Muslim youth, especially in the darker and harsher times that India is passing through,' notes Mohammad Sajjad.
The plaintiffs submitted that the exact nature of the 'Shivling' can be determined after removing the artificial/modern walls/floors surrounding it and by undertaking a survey of the entire sealed area by excavation and using other scientific methods.
'For Muslims, India is now a Hindu Rashtra, no matter what kind of Constitution is still in place,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
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